Prior to the present invention, applicant's assignee has manufactured and sold a simulated pager with a concealed radio transmitter for use by law enforcement authorities. The transmitter is turned on to broadcast a conversation with a criminal suspect to a radio receiver at a different location where a sound recording is made of the conversation. The simulated pager is an effective "cover"for the concealed transmitter because it is unlikely to arouse the suspicion of the person under surveillance. The simulated pager has circuit components which produce a visible display that is indistinguishable from that of an actual pager of known design but it does not actually operate as a pager.
Difficulties have been encountered with that simulated pager when customers insert or remove its battery. In some instances the connection from the battery to the simulated pager circuitry and to the concealed transmitter has been broken due to customer error. Also, there was the possibility that the customer could put the battery in with the polarity reversed from the correct arrangement.